Smart cities should have inclusive programmes, says Minister

The smart cities concept proposed by the Centre should look at integration, coordination and synergistic functioning of different civic bodies for a better civic life.

“Smart cities are not just about use of technology. It should have inclusive programmes to accommodate 30 per cent of the population, who are poor and live in urban areas,” Karnataka Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake told Business Line .

“Karnataka has urged the Centre to include inclusive growth by tackling urban poverty and announce the finer details of smart cities, details of which are yet to be announced,” he added.

While there are modest objectives for planned smart cities programme, there is no concrete framework based on analysis of existing initiatives available to guide policymakers.

“Instead of synergistic functioning of civic bodies and inclusive programmes, there is a lot of focus on the technological aspects of smart cities,” said Sorake.

There is a need to focus on urban mobility front, public transport must be the backbone of sustainable urban mobility systems and it must be complemented and supported by land use planning, he explained.

Earlier, Sorake, speaking at the workshop on sustainable urban planning for smart cities in Karnataka organised by IIT Roorkee, Karnataka Urban Development department, Centre for Urban Designs Development and facilitated by IIT Alumni Centre Bengaluru, he said, “We would like IITs to take on research projects to develop innovative cost effective waste water treatment processes so that Karnataka can take the lead in treating wastewater and reuse it near its source for a variety of purposes.”

IIT Alumni Centre Bengaluru President Ashok Misra said, “Alumni has chalked out a plan to as to how to give it back to society. Here for Smart Cities programme we are planning to come together to help Karnataka government. There are about 12000 IITians in Bengaluru region.”

Welcoming IITs expertise, Sorake said Bengaluru is facing an acute problem of solid waste management. He said, “Today, many municipalities have a process of collection and transportation of solid waste. They have smaller plants that are unviable and government is looking at setting up larger plants similar to the sewage treatment plants.”

Karnataka has sent a lit of 10 cities be included in the Prime Minister’s 100 Smart Cities list.

According to Sorake, for cities above 50 lakh population, recommendations of Ramnagara, Devanahalli and Tumkur have been sent. Here the state government is exploring to set up a Satellite Towns. For cities with a population between 5 and 10 lakhs, Mysuru, Kalaburgi, Hubbali-Dharwad and Managaluru have been recommended.

For selecting heritage town status, Karnataka had recommended Vijaypura, Hospet and Udupi, “But the Centre has chosen Badami in Bagalkot district. For development of a port city, Centre has chosen Mangaluru,” said Sorake.